A Little Too Late
by BeAuTiFuL mAdDnEsS
Summary: The Cohens move to Orange County after Kirsten's mother is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. How will her sickness change the family? What effect will the Cohen's arrival have on the residents of Orange County? PLEASE R&R!
1. Bedtime Stories

**So, once upon a time I made up this rule that I would never write more than one fanfiction at a time. But we all know that stories beginning with "once upon a time" can never be reflective of true life, so it would have been impossible for me to live by that. Hence the creation of this story.**

**It is common knowledgethat The O.C. has a really weird time-line that changes continually, so I've decided to make Hailey about 15 years younger than Kirsten (meh-they said she was twenty-five in Season 2) and in this, Sandy and Kirsten got married and had Seth when they were twenty two. We never really learnt when Sandy and Kirsten moved to Orange County, but in The Girlfriend Sandy said Seth had been "planning his exodus from this place since he was six" so I've decided to make Seth five going on six in this story when they move. Perhaps my time-line is as reliable as Josh Schwartz's, but I'm sticking by it!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own The O.C. or its characters. However, there are times when I am willing to bet Josh took my personality and made it into one of the shows characters. Unfortunately, none of my family or friends think I have enough reason to take my stolen personality case to court. I remain hopeful, however. **

Kirsten looked up from the book she was reading to Seth as a clap of thunder sounded, illuminating the room further. The thunder seemed to have opened up room for the rain to fall faster and harder, Kirsten though, as she watched it pound against Seth's window. Kirsten walked over to the window to shut Seth's curtains, pausing briefly to look out into the dark backyard.

"Mummy?" Seth asked quietly, returning Seth's attention to him. She bit back a smile as she noticed he had pulled his sheet up to his chin and was clutching onto the thin material tightly.

"Do you want to sleep with Daddy and me tonight?" Kirsten asked, walking over to him, picking up a bear from the floor and handing it to Seth to cuddle.

Seth shook his head as he accepted his bear. "I'm a big boy now," he reminded her, staring up with big, brown, frightened eyes.

"Yes, you are," Kirsten agreed, smiling and ruffling Seth's hair. He brushed her hand away in protest and she gave him a kiss on her forehead before she walked over to his door, turning off the light. "We'll finish the book tomorrow. Goodnight, sweetie-I love you."

"'Night," Seth replied.

Kirsten left the door partly open so the light from the hallway would go through to Seth's room before joining Sandy in their bedroom. Sandy looked up from the book he was reading as she walked in.

"Seth asleep?" he asked hopefully.

Kirsten shook her head and lay down next to Sandy, wrapping her arms around him and closing her eyes.

"I think he'll join us at the next sound of thunder," Kirsten replied. "But until then, he's a big, brave boy."

"God, who knew how tiring having a kid can be?" Sandy complained with a smile, looking at his wife as she gave a yawn. "We're like geriatrics-dinner at five, bed at eight..."

"Away from Newport, in a two bedroom house with a five year old son-it's perfect," Kirsten said. "Ideal."

Kirsten grabbed a pillow from underneath her, shoving it over her head in protest as the phone rang. She was far too comfy to get up.

"I'll get it," Sandy said, getting out of bed an instant before Seth appeared in the doorway.

Sandy pushed Seth towards the bed before leaving the room to answer the phone. Kirsten removed the pillow and looked at Seth's bed hair and frightened eyes, unable to contain a smile as she wondered what stories he was currently conjuring in his overactive mind.

"Come here," Kirsten told him, pulling up the sheets as Seth hopped in next to her. "Now, what's so scary about a phone ringing?"

Seth wrapped his arms around her and Kirsten played with his hair while she waited for him to answer.

"Aunt Hailey," Seth replied.

"Aunt Hailey?" Kirsten repeated, puzzled as she wondered what her twelve-year-old sister had to do with it.

"One time she told me a story," Seth explained. "And it was a dark and stormy night, and then the phone rang, and..."

"And what?" Kirsten asked.

"I can't remember," Seth answered. "But it was something bad."

"Why don't you make it into something good?" Kirsten suggested. "Who could be on the other end of the phone that would make it better?"

"Luke Skywalker, wanting to be my friend," Seth decided after careful thought.

"Think about that, then," Kirsten said, turning off the light.

Kirsten held Seth as he quietened and his breathing settled into a pattern, but Kirsten couldn't sleep . She could just make out Sandy's quiet, seriousvoice talking on the phone.

* * *

"Would you like me to get her?" Sandy asked quietly.

"No-I think she'd be better off hearing this from you," Caleb replied seriously.

"Okay," Sandy said. "I'll tell her now."

Sandy hung up the phone and ran his hand through his hair. He let out a deep breath and decided it would have been so much easier for him if Caleb had of told Kirsten himself. This was not something Sandy wanted to tell her, but for once he knew Caleb was right. She needed to be told this in person; not over the phone. It was just something he wished he never had to tell anyone-especially someone he loved.

He stood up and slowly walked to his bedroom-not that it took long, even when he was walking slowly; it was hardly a big house.

Kirsten looked up as Sandy appeared in the doorway. She was about to signal for him to be quiet as Seth was asleep, but the look in his eyes held her back. She knew as soon as she looked at him that something was wrong. Seriously wrong.

Sandy motioned for her to come to him. His heart lurched with sorrow and pain as he registered the look of fright in her eyes as she hesitantly walked over to him.

"What's going on?" Kirsten asked wearily.

"Come with me," Sandy whispered, holding her hand and guiding her to the living room.

Kirsten looked up at Sandy, studying his eyes intently for a sign as to what he was about to say. Sandy rest his hands on Kirsten's waist and gave a sigh. He had no idea how to tell this to her.

"Why don't you sit down?" Sandy suggested.

Kirsten pushed away from Sandy. It was bad, whatever he was going to tell her and she did not want to know what it was. Maybe if she let him see that, maybe if she let him see that it would be all his fault for making her upset if he told her he'd hold back the truth and they could go on living normally.

"No," Kirsten said firmly.

"Baby, please-sit down," Sandy said, taking a step towards her. Kirsten adamantly remained where she was and Sandy let out a sigh. He wasn't one to beat around the bush so he decided to be upfront-get the shock over and done with.

"Your Dad called," Sandy begun. "Your Mum collapsed today with abdominal painsand was taken to hospital. They conducted a series of tests and...well, she...she has ovarian cancer. I'm so sorry."

Sandy watched as Kirsten's face drained of colour and emotion-she just stared at him. He led Kirsten to the couch and sat her down.

"Please tell me you're lying," Kirsten whispered.

Sandy sat down next to her.

"I wish I was," he told her.

"How...bad is it?" Kirsten asked in an unsteady voice, trying to hold on to the string of strength she had remaining.

All Sandy had to do was tell her that they'd caught it early on, that there was a good chance it could be cured. But as soon as Sandy took both of her hands in his, she knew she wouldn't be hearing the answer she wanted to hear.

"They think it's pretty advanced," Sandy told her quietly.

The string of strength broke and tears filled Kirsten's eyes. Sandy pulled her into him as she cried, stroking her hair. He didn't think it would be appropriate right now, given the circumstances, to tell her that everything would be okay.

* * *

Seth was good at pretending. He could pretend his room was a rocket and his toys his crew. He could pretend outside was another planet with enemies to defeat. But his specialty was sleeping. When he pretended to be asleep, he could hear his Mum and Dad talking about adult things. He got to catch a glimpse into that exciting, alien world.

As always, Seth had not been able to understand a few of the words. He had no idea what "ovarian", "cancer" or "advanced" meant. (At least, he thought that was what he'd heard-they'd been talking really quietly and he hadn't made much out.) Not being able to understand was no surprise. What was a surprise was when his Mum had started to cry.

Seth poked his head around the door and peeked quickly into the living room. His Dad was now holding his Mum as she cried. Seth couldn't help but feel a bit scared-he'd never seen his Mum cry before. He didn't think adults cried, anyway.

He'd contemplated challenging his father to a duel with his light saber, as he had decided his Dad must have made his Mum cry. But when he'd looked at his Dad holding his Mum, he'd looked so sad that Seth had wondered if they had both hurt each other.

Seth decided he had to do something. Even if both his Mum and Dad were hurt, his Mum was the one crying-the one who needed cheering up most. He turned around and walked to his room, grabbing Captain Oats and taking him to his parents bedroom.

"My Mummy's upset, Captain Oats," Seth seriously told his horse. "So you have to take care of her, okay?"

Seth set Captain Oats on Kirsten's bedside table before getting back into the bed. He lay himself in the middle, deciding that way he'd be in between his parents and they'd be less likely to hurt each other.

Another clap of thunder sounded-this one louder than the last-and Seth pulled the sheets up over his head as the rain continued to violently fall.

**Please review if you want me to continue this story! The continuation of this depends on you-so you know what you have to do...**


	2. Cigarettes and Rain

**Well...talk about a break. I don't know if my updates will be frequent because school is really busy at the moment and, more to the point, I need to keep up my grades if I want to do commerce/law next year. Anyway, I don't even know if this chapter is very good-considering my long absence from this-but it was something I just randomly wrote at 1am last night when I was taking a break from my religion essay. For those of you who think that Handel and Freud aren't connected; think again. I spent a long, long day writing that essay. (I can't help it if I am the Queen of Procrastination...I think I do things better last minute, anyway. Normally...) Also; if I have learnt anything another than how Freud and Handel can be connected in my long, long absence, it's that unrequited love sucks. Majorly. Trust me. Especially when there are moments when it doesn't seem quite so unrequited. **

**But anyway, like I said, I don't know if this chapter is any good but hey. (Try to) Enjoy!**

The rain had not stopped falling by the time they'd packed the car and taken off, even though it had taken almost two hours to get everything and everyone ready. Seth sat in the back, half asleep with Captain Oats tucked under his jacket and Sandy drove silently, throwing concerned glances towards his wife every now and then, who had not moved since getting in the car.

Kirsten sat, looking out the window. In the past hour they had been driving, she had come to the conclusion that she liked rain. It was almost as though the sky was doing the rest of her crying for her because there was no way she was going to break down in front of Seth. So anytime she felt like crying, she'd focus on the rhythm of the rain pounding on the car and look at the droplets trailing down the window, pretending they were tears falling down her cheeks. And then she'd feel cleansed; as though she'd somehow purged her soul.

* * *

Hailey stirred, groaning as she was reminded once again of the back pain caused by sitting in the one chair for the past year. Okay-so maybe she hadn't been in this hospital for a year, but it sure as hell felt like it. She could already see that her life had been divided into two, distinct parts: BOC and AOC-Before Ovarian Cancer and After Ovarian Cancer. And although she'd only been in AOC for the past six hours or so, she already knew that it was the crappiest stage of her life. Ever. She was sick of the smell of hospitals; that chemical smell that staff try to hide with fake floral scents that just make you want to turn and run. She was sick of her Dad alternating between sitting with his head in his hands and lying next to her Mum, holding her-didn't he know that his silence just made things worse? She was sick of her new understading of words such as "chemotherapy" and "radiation" that had been alien to her less than a day before. But most of all, she was sick of avoiding looking at her Mum in the eye, knowing that once she did the tears would start.

Hailey shifted, trying to ease the back pain, but nothing worked. She looked over at her Dad-he was in his head holding phase-and wished that he'd take her home so she could curl up in bed and finally cry. The only problem was, it's difficult to take home someone you've forgotten about. Hailey gave a small cough but her Dad didn't stir. She sighed, coughed again and even tried saying "Dad" quietly to avoid waking her Mum, but nothing worked. Finally, she got up out of her chair and just left the room.

There was a Coke machine outside the hospital enterance, if Hailey remembered correctly. Checking her pocket for money, Hailey made a beeline for the relief caffeine could give her. It was clear that there'd be no going home tonight when "tonight" had become "today" that was going to see sunrise in a few hours.

Stepping outside, Hailey thanked whatever higher power that existed for the shelter over the Coke machine. She couldn't remember it having pelted down like this in ages. Hailey put the coins in the machine, lost in any thoughts that didn't involve the hospital or her mother, eagerly grabbing the can as it fell out.

"Hey."

Hailey stood back quickly as some Coke spilt from her can. She'd jumped a mile when she'd heard that voice and glanced part in anger, part in fright at the stranger standing against the wall a couple of feet away. He was probably about fourteen or fifteen, Hailey guessed. He had a messy sort of look to him; his brown hair was longish and, from the looks of it, unbrushed. As he moved closer to her, Hailey could see that his scruffy clothes were soaked.

"What are you doing up at this time?" he asked with an arrogant smile.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Hailey asked passionately, quicky riled like she always was.

"Nothing," he said with a shrug.

"Well, what are _you_ doing up at this time?" Hailey asked.

"My friend OD'd," he said flippantly.

"Oh...I'm sorry," Hailey said, assuming that whatever an OD was, it was something bad.

"Not as sorry as he'll be when he wakes up, his parents are gonna be so pissed," the guy said with a smirk. "Do you even know what an OD is?"

"Of course I do," Hailey lied.

"Right," he said. "And, let me guess, you're twenty one, too?"

"I'm fourteen," Hailey lied again, adding two years to her age.

"Well, I'm Tom," Tom said.

"Hailey," Hailey said, trying not to notice the fact that Tom was still looking at her like he didn't quite believe her. Did she really look that young?

"You want one?" Tom asked, pulling a box of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket.

Hailey stared at the cigarettes dumbfounded. She couldn't smoke. And now she was going to make a total fool of herself in front of Tom.

"Um...well..." Hailey spluttered. "I have to...get back inside."

Hailey quickly walked away, cheeks blushing with embarrassment as she heard Tom call out; "Sure you do. Nice to meet you, Hailey."

She basically ran to the lift. And then as soon as she got there, she wondered why she'd even left. Once Hailey returned to that room, she'd be invisble again. She'd have to face this ugly dark reality. Alone. She was sick of her father being too absorbed in his work to notice her. And, if you wanted to get down to it, she was sick of her mother never being able to do motherly things because she was too busy drowning her sorrows with a bottle. Why did she try to please them? Why did she try to live up to the reputation of a sister who, it was clear, she was never going to be?

With her mind made up, Hailey turned around and confidently walked back outside.

"Hey Tom-can I have that cigarette?"

* * *

Kirsten frowned as the rain began to ease off. That wasn't meant to happen! The rain stopped her from crying, she couldn't see anything ahead of her with the heaviness of it. If the rain stopped, everything would just be too..._normal_. And she couldn't take normal right now. 

Sandy noticed Kirsten's frown and the dark, heavy circles under her eyes. She looked like she'd just pulled one of her famous all nighters from college; when she'd get through the next day in a daze and then Sandy would have to half carry her back to the mailtruck. He wished he could hold her now. She looked so vulnerable and alone.

Kirsten jumped as Sandy rested a comforting hand on her knee, tearing her out of her dark, rainy world.

"Why don't you try to get some sleep?" Sandy whispered.

Kirsten tried to shake her head, but as her imaginary world disappeared, so did her strength. A hot tear rolled down her cheek. Then another one. And another one. She turned her head, hoping Sandy wouldn't see the cascade of fresh tears, but she realised she was too late as Sandy pulled the car over.

"Kirsten," Sandy sighed, moving as close as he could to her and running his hand up her arm.

Sandy's touch just made the tears fall harder as she realised how much she loved him; how good he was to her.

"Don't leave me," Kirsten whispered frantically, quickly turning around and clutching tightly onto his hands with her own. "Don't leave me. Don't get sick. I couldn't cope Sandy, I just-I couldn't!"

Sandy held on tightly as Kirsten leaned into him, clutching desperately onto his shirt. She breathed in deeply the scent of the only man she ever really loved and trusted, wondering if he really knew just how much her world revolved around him. He kissed the top of her head continuously, wishing it would ease the shaking of her body, anything so that she wouldn't be feeling this terrible pain. It hurt him more than she'd ever know, seeing her like this.

"We'll get through this together," Sandy whispered into her ear. "I promise."

Kirsten nodded, and drew away a little bit to look in his eyes for reassurance. Sandy kept his arms around her but placed his forehead on hers as she took deep breaths to control her sobs.

"I love you, Kirsten," Sandy told her. "You're my life."

"I love you, too," Kirsten whispered. "More than you know."

Sandy kissed her lovingly. First on the lips, then the nose, her cheeks, her forehead-all over her face, in the vain hope that it would somehow take her pain away.

"I love you," Sandy repeated.

Finally, Kirsten's sobs subsided. Once she seemed to have settled down enough, Sandy drew back, touching her face before starting the car.

"I'll be with you for it all," Sandy said.

"Promise?" Kirsten asked.

"Promise."

**Oh yes...and Josh Schwartz is officially a mean, mean man because he just _had_ to end The O.C.on what happened to be my seventeenth birthday! _Where is the justice in that??_ Here I am, a completely dedicated fan and _this_ is how I am repaid? Oh well. At least he gave us Sophie Rose Cohen and an awesome earthquake. That is almost enough for me to forgive him. (And thank God the finale was shown here in Australia on the day after my birthday, so I got to spend my birthday in partial peace. It was an awesome birthday, too, so it gave me a happy place to go to when I became really down after seeing the final episode.)**

**ANYWAY...sorry about the ramblings and ventings. Let me know if this chapter was okay, terrible, beyond terrible so I can decide whether to continue on with this or escape from the shame by assuming a new screen name. Or mane, as I accidentally typed in. Actually, I'm not really that keen on this chapter. But hey, it might help me to deal with criticisms on the offchance of me becoming a lawyer one day. (Ha ha-like I have the guts to do that when I hate public speaking.)**

**Review, review, review!!**


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